[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 28, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       TRIBUTE TO RICHARD GLOVSKY

                                 ______


                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 28, 1994

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, in the February/March issue 
of Frontline, the newsletter of the Anti-Defamation League, a profile 
appeared describing the extraordinary work that Richard Glovsky has 
done on behalf of the principles of an America in which all of us are 
judged on our merits, and which prejudice of various sorts does not 
poison our lives. Dick Glovsky, as the article demonstrates, has had a 
long career in a fairly short time on behalf of a variety of good 
causes. As the immediate past chairman of the New England Regional 
Board of the ADL, Dick Glovsky was an exemplar of a citizen who fights 
to protect the rights of his own group, not by diminishing the rights 
of others but by respecting and helping enlarge them as well. Richard 
Glovsky used his legal talents and other skills in the fight against 
antisemitism while he was simultaneously engaged in defending the 
rights and liberties of others, and in particular in helping preserve 
strong ties between the Jewish and African-American communities in New 
England. I have been privileged to enjoy the friendship, advice and 
counsel of Dick and his wife Nancy Korman for many years, and I want to 
share this article with my colleagues to emphasize the continued 
importance of dedicated volunteers like Richard Glovsky, and to show 
that those who argue that religious and ethnic groups can only protect 
themselves at the expense of others are completely wrong. We all 
complain that the news is dominated by the negative. I am delighted to 
counteract that trend by sharing with my colleagues a very important 
example of the positive in intergroup relations.

    Richard Glovsky: A Man Who Learned to Appreciate Being Different

       Richard Glovsky, the immediate past chairman of the ADL New 
     England Regional board, traces his lifelong commitment to 
     civil rights to an early childhood illness that left him with 
     a hearing deficit. ``It was horrible,'' he said, recalling 
     the unmerciful teasing of his classmates when a hearing test 
     revealed that he was deaf in one ear. As a result, he bonded 
     with other children with disabilities. His best friend in 
     those years was a retarded child and he observed how cruelly 
     his friend was treated by other children. ``My disability 
     paled in comparison with his,'' he said. As he grew older, 
     Dick said, he formed friendships with African-Americans and 
     saw connections between their experiences with discrimination 
     and the unfair treatment people with disabilities 
     encountered.
       What else could he do but become a lawyer and specialize in 
     civil rights? He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and 
     Boston College Law School where he was an editor of the Law 
     Review.
       Dick Glovsky began his legal career with the U.S. Justice 
     Department where he worked under now Supreme Court Justice 
     Antonin Scalia. While in the Justice Department, he co-
     authored a comprehensive treatise on the impeachment of 
     President Nixon and handled hundreds of cases on a wide 
     variety of issues facing the U.S. government.
       He was named chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. 
     Attorney's office in Boston in 1978, a post he held for two 
     years before entering private practice. He is very proud of 
     the fact that he initiated the first affirmative civil rights 
     litigation by the Federal government in Massachusetts, a case 
     regarding housing discrimination. In 1983, he founded Glovsky 
     & Associates, a law firm specializing in Federal and state 
     civil rights matters, which has handled numerous precedent-
     setting civil rights cases.
       His involvement with ADL began in the 1980's when he was 
     chairman of the Newton, Massachusetts, Human Rights 
     Commission. He worked on special projects with ADL 
     professionals in Boston and in 1985 was asked to join the New 
     England Regional Board, Prior to being named chairman in 
     1991, he served as vice chairman, treasurer and chair of the 
     Public Affairs Committee. He is also a ADL National 
     Commissioner and member of the National Executive Committee.
       ``It is not until you have the responsibility of being 
     chairman,'' he said, ``that you can appreciate how important 
     the position is and how much it can be used to make the world 
     better.''
       Deeply disturbed by the outbreaks of anti-Semitism and 
     bigotry in this country and overseas, he says, ``I'm not 
     surprised easily but I have been startled by the number of 
     incidents and the extent to which hatred and misunderstanding 
     exist. You can go along thinking you've made progress with 
     certain groups, and then there will be a serious incident 
     that is devastating.''
       Being involved in Jewish communal activities is a Glovsky 
     family tradition. Dick's grandfather--the first Jewish lawyer 
     to practice on Boston's North Shore--was a B'nai B'rith 
     officer and his father also was active.
       Although his work with ADL has been his first priority, he 
     is deeply involved with numerous other organizations. He is 
     president of the Dartmouth College class of '69, which this 
     year convenes its 25th anniversary reunion. He is finance 
     chair for Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger; a founder of 
     The Wellness Community, a retreat for cancer patients 
     established at the behest of the late comedienne Gilda 
     Radner; an originator of For Love and Life, a wish 
     organization for AIDS patients; and chairman of the Thomas J. 
     Drinan Fellowship, an intern program for young attorneys.
       His good works earned him the Hecht-Shaw Award from the 
     Lena Park Community Development Center in 1992.
       Dick and his wife, Nancy Korman, are the parents of four 
     children.

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